r mouth. Once more, and for the last time, the fiery
liquid gave her a momentary strength. She roused herself from the
stupor into which she was sinking, and, springing to her feet with a
wild, spasmodic effort, she ran with outstretched hands toward the
shore. For about twenty or thirty paces she ran, and, before I could
overtake her, she fell once more.

I raised her up, and again supported her. She could move no farther. I
sat by her side for a little while, and looked toward the shore. It was
close by us now; but, as I looked, I saw a sight which made any further
delay impossible.

Directly in front, and only a few feet away, was a dark chasm lying
between us and that shore for which we had been striving so earnestly.
It was a fathom wide; and there flowed the dark waters of the river,
gloomily, warningly, menacingly! To me, that chasm was nothing; but how
could she cross it? Besides, there was no doubt that it was widening
every moment.

I started up.

"Wait here for a moment," said I, hurriedly.

I left her half reclining on the ice, and ran hastily up and down the
chasm. I could see that my fears were true. The whole body of ice was
beginning to break away, and drift from this shore also, as it had done
from the other. I saw a place not more than five feet wide. Back I
rushed to my companion. I seized her, and, lifting her in my arms,
without a word, I carried her to that place where the channel was
narrowest; and then, without stopping to consider, but impelled by the
one fierce desire for safety, I leaped forward, and my feet touched the
opposite side.

With a horrible crash, the ice broke beneath me, and I went down. That
sound, and the awful sensation of sinking, I shall never forget. But
the cake of ice which had given way beneath my feet, though it went
down under me, still prevented my sinking rapidly. I flung myself
forward, and held up my almost senseless burden as I best could with
one arm, while with the other I dug my sharp-pointed stick into the ice
and held on for a moment. Then, summoning up my strength, I passed my
left arm under my companion, and raised her out of the water upon the
ice. My feet seemed sucked by the water underneath the shelf of ice
against which I rested; but the iron-pointed stick never slipped, and I
succeeded. Then, with a spring, I raised myself up from the water, and
clambered out.

My companion had struggled up to her knees, and grasped me feebly, as
though to as